Two years ago my wife and I bought a house that's in "move in" shape, but needed some upgrades. This year we're taking our state tax return and doing some updates to the house. So far here's what we've got bought on our budget. :D

Frigidaire Microwave (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=273728-2251-PLMVZ169GC&lpage=none)
Five New glass block windows for the basement (http://www.glassblockusa.com/pix/size96dpi/341B.jpg)
Attic vent Fan (http://www.acehardware.com/sm-certainteed-and-reg-power-gable-fan-53319--pi-1367418.html)
Bathroom Vent Fan (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=26556-14-671&lpage=none)

So far we've spent just over $384 on these four items, however we're waiting on a $50 mail-in rebate from Lowes on the Microwave. :D We bought the microwave "as is" once a customer returned it stating it didn't work. Lowes sent it to a shop in town who ordered a part to fix the microwave, installed the new part, and tested before sending it back to Lowes. I was able to walk out of Lowes with the microwave, which was just bought 2 weeks before and still has a 1 year manufacture warranty, for $50 plus tax. After paying for the microwave it also printed out a coupon to mail in for a rebate. That week Lowes was doing a promo where for every Stainless Steel appliance you buy, you get $50 back. Needless to say I made out on that one. :D

The glass blocks are also a "pallet buy" special. A local hardware store in town has a 32x24 vented glass block window on sale for $49 a piece. These were ones that were slightly flawed and didn't pass PPG's standards, however after I sorted through about 20 of them which had cracks and such, I found 5 which were in near perfect shape. :D Once they're in the wall, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and the perfect ones which run about $85 each.

Total price if bought everything new......$901!
Total price spent to date.....$381, but am waiting on the rebate!

It just shows you that if you keep your eye's open, and have a large timetable to work with, you can do some nice updates with little cash. All I need now to purchase these is some electric wire, which man has that went through the roof the past year or so! I'll post pics as the progress moves on.

Hey man nothin wrong with doing a little price shopping. Good luck gettin everything installed :thumbsup:

Remeber with the bathroom vent--it needs to vent outside, not just into the attic.:thumbsup:

It's funny you should say that.....so far that project is going to be the hardest. Our house is a 1 1/2 story with a VERY steep sloped roof. The bathroom is on it's own little "roof" that you can't reach from attic. Our attic has a few roof vents' installed now that I was going to run a hose from the vent to and drop the moist air out right around the vents to go outside, however with the bathroom being under it's own attic I'm not sure just what we're going to do. Just to run power to the fan we're going to have to cut a hole in the roof of the main attic and hope we're not making a new skylight! I'd hate to cut a hole too large as we're just increasing the odds we'd cut into the shingles that were installed about 5 years ago. Not sure just what the plans are going to call for, but needless to say the tape measure is going to be put to a TON of use on that one. My brother-in-law is still trying to convince me that it should be fine to run the vent right into the attic, but I'm just really wanting to avoid that. I just see the small spots of mold forming from the moisture in the bathroom, and I'd hate to see that on the roof. I'll try to post some pics to get a few fresh idea's on any new plans on install.

As for shopping around....between my in-laws and I at least one of us are at Lowes every day. So far we've bought a vent-free gas fireplace for about $120 at the end of the season, an outdoor porch swing for $15 at the end of the season, a log splitter for about $200 that had a small fluid leak when the splitter is used in the vertical position, and a zero turn mower for $1200 that was still in the crate. The tire had a hole in it when Lowes received it, and they removed the tire while they waited to see what Troy-Built wanted to do from there. Troy-Built decided they'd replace the tire, but wanted the old one back first, however in the few days in between Lowes lost the tire and Troy-Built wouldn't send a new one without the old one being sent back. After about 2 months of the mower sitting in the backroom, and SEVERAL offers from us to buy it "as is" Lowes decided to let it go to us if we pick it up ASAP, otherwise it gets sent to the floor. Needless to say we were there within 10 minutes with the cash. :D